THE waiting game is just about over for Western NSW FC's men's side who now have a season restart timeframe for their National Premier Leagues 4 campaign.
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Football NSW announced on Wednesday that competitions could restart from "late July" after the Western men and their NPL4 rivals were forced to stop just two rounds into the season due to coronavirus restrictions.
Western are still waiting for an exact date and opponent for the resumption of their campaign but coach Mark Rooke said it's great to have a time frame to work with.
"We're just waiting on a new draw to come out but at least we've got something to work towards, and we're looking to organise a couple of trial games over the next few weeks so we can be as ready as we can possibly be on that first weekend," he said.
"It doesn't matter who we play against, we just need minutes in the legs. You can train all you like but that's not going to replicate the game situation as playing a game itself."
Western secured one of those valuable trial games against Waratahs on Thursday night and they're keen for more of those meetings as Football NSW finalises their draw.
The club are hopeful of securing more trial games, particularly against Western Premier League teams who have the bye each round.
"We've stepped things up as we've been allowed to. We've done as much ball work as we can, even though we've been restricted in what we can do," Rooke said.
"Fitness is something we've worked hard on and I believe we're at fit as we can be without playing games."
Football NSW gave clubs the chance to assess their player situation and opt out of returning to the competition if necessary.
All 12 teams in NPL4, including Western NSW FC, put their hand up to come back to the competition, as did every team from NPL3.
"We were confident all teams in those leagues would be involved. It was the top two tiers that would be an issue because that's where the money is involved," Rooke said.
"There's clubs trying to negotiate new contracts ... and once they'd done that they ticked off every club in those divisions except for one. That's disappointing because, in my view, it shouldn't be about the money and just about getting back to playing."
Western were due to host South Coast Flames FC in the next round according to the original draw but it remains unclear whether that will still be the next game on the club's radar.
The news isn't as rosy for Western's senior women's side who have indicated they will not be resuming their NPL2 campaign as "COVID-19 has placed a further strain on player availability".
However, Western NSW FC will continue to play in the girls youth grades from under 14s through to under 17s, plus the girls Skills Acquisition Program will still be commencing the weekend of July 11 and 12.